OK, it’s go time. You have all the pieces (the video, the hosting, the platform), but integrating video can be as “easy” as cloning dinosaurs from fossilized DNA! As you begin to create and cultivate your video workflow, there are several moving parts that need to be taken into account.

Find Your Path

It’s time to decide which direction your video will take:

Is video a vital component of your training or simply a helpful tool?

Is your training content for sale to the public or used internally to enhance employee behavior?

Not all video platforms are created equal; each one brings its own unique strengths. Picking the best one for the job is no easy task.

It’s easy to say YouTube is the best simply because it’s well known and free, but the logic doesn’t factor in other characteristics, some of which can be a major disadvantages. Here’s a breakdown of the big video platforms and their benefits.

Just like every velociraptor starts off as a tiny egg before turning into a ferocious, tourist-hunting machine, video goes through its own lifecycle to become a valuable tool for communicating and connecting to your learning audience.

Like the infamous Dead Parrot, the Adobe Flash plugin is at the end of its viable life cycle as a Web technology. Recent disclosures of exploitable bugs in Flash—plus this week’s decision by browser developers at Mozilla to disable the plugin—have accelerated the trend away from Flash in favor of HTML5 for Web video and animation. Even Adobe’s beautiful plumage (in the form of HTML5-based output from Flash Professional) cannot disguise the fact that Flash is increasingly viewed as an unnecessary security risk.

The Correct Video Selection Type

So far, we’ve covered why video is the best choice for learning and when to use it to teach. But we haven’t covered everything. For example, look at the brontosaurus. Did you know that the brontosaurus isn't an actual dinosaur?* As the skeleton was being constructed, it was composed of incorrect bones! Just as it’s important to put the right bones in the right places, it is just as important to put videos in the correct places. We would argue that is it time to address the two-ton T-Rex in the room: how can I make the correct video selection type?

Show or Tell - Should I use text or video?

The debate between show or tell has existed since prehistoric times. But how do you know which one to choose?

Let me explain. Imagine someone rushing down the street, completely lost and running late for a special showing of Jurassic Park. He stops and asks you for directions to the movie theater. In this situation, you have two options: tell him, explaining the directions, or show him, opening Google Maps on your phone, complete with exact street names and distances—and even push the directions to his smartphone.

Why Should I Use Video?

Has one of your favorite books ever been turned into a movie, only to leave you disappointed? At some point, you'll have the “book was better than the movie” experience.

The reason is simple: While you were reading, your mind was busy filling in the blanks with your imagination. You took the abstract words from the page and created your own world, complete with your unique characters, places, and scenes.

Even though it’s the same book, no two people will have the same “imaginative experience.” Instead, It's your own unique experience.

When someone uses the phrase, "interactive video," what do they mean? The answer may surprise you.

Online video has been with us since the early 2000s. As popularized by YouTube, the ability to watch videos on demand is part of our digital culture. But what are people actually doing when they watch that inspirational clip? Press the "Play" button? Maybe adjust the volume or go to full screen view? Nod and share it on Facebook? If the player is little more than a tiny TV, then the video experience is "flat" or passive in nature (even if the video itself is interesting).

Effective Learning Uses Video!

People who learn concepts through video remember longer than most. Not only do video learners retain knowledge longer, but they grasp concepts faster than learning solely through reading. Studies of person to person communication indicates that less than 10% of human understanding comes from language, less than 40% comes from tonality (auditory) and the remaining is through body language (visual). People are visual learners and using video is a more effective way to get your message across and ensure your viewers understand.

The concept of enhanced learning through video is understood and implemented by many learning professionals and organizations, however the use of interactive video for even more effective learning is not as well understood.

The internet allows any person to have access to information, information that can lead to curiosity, interest, and eventually learning. However, working people are busy and need options to get the job done as efficiently as possible.

Video and audio help people work smarter, not harder because content is delivered visually and in-ear to aid in comprehension. This control with video allows for learning online or offline, with more time or less time, and learning at your own pace.

Registered ® 2015 Viddler, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Video content subject to copyright by their respective owners. "Viddler" and the Viddler logo are registered trademarks of Viddler, Inc. Viddler, Inc. owns other registered and unregistered trade and service marks. Products and services provided by Viddler are covered in whole or part by US Patent No. 8,392,821.